The last time I saw Job For A Cowboy for their opening acts, it was one of the worst concert experiences I've ever had. Luckily, this time was much better all around.

The Bottleneck in Lawrence is one of the worst venues in the summer. It was like an oven in there, and the cooling air produced by the loud amps gave the most relief of the night. It helped at times.

The first band of the night was Independance, MO's own The Roman Holiday. If they were trying to be a carbon copy of Job For A Cowboy throughout the years, they certainly have done a good job. Honestly, their newer stuff sounded just like a more generic version of JFAC's newer stuff, and their "older stuff" sounded just like "Doom"-era JFAC, breakdowns and all. They never had any solo's, the vocalist could only scream in one way, and every song sounded the same. The drummer had some chops, though. I digress, I can think of a couple bands I'd rather see open up this concert, but I can think of a ton more I wouldn't want to see.

The kings of scene kid-destroying metal Revocation were next and they melted faces with every song. I saw them open for Quo Vadis in Baltimore last year and I'm disappointed it took me this long to see them again, but it made it that much better. It took about halfway through their set for the crowd to get really into it, but with enough insane solos and catchy rhythms, the crowd was really responsive the entire set. Complete with band crowd-surfing and dual solo's, Revocation will always put on one of the best and most energetic set's you'll ever see.

Cattle Decapitation should be a legendary metal band after last year. Releasing one of the freshest, most progressive death metal albums in recent years, their live show only improves upon itself with each viewing. The Harvest Floor tracks sound amazing live and with just one guitar there makes for some amazing moments that are almost like freeform jazz in some sense. They've started to include the genre of noise music into their shows now and, to me, that's a huge plus. Travis is still one of the best extreme metal vocalists around (even though before the show he looked like a chubby Michael Scott) and their new bass player is from Troglodyte from Wichita! YEAH! Still amazing, best set I've seen them put on.

I went back to the merch stands for Whitechapel and I'll keep it brief: they are the first band I've ever seen without any redeemable musical qualities live. The sound was really quiet too because I was in the back, but I like to think it was because Cattle Decapitation melted the soundboard. Three guitarists all playing breakdowns, breakdowns make up a majority of the song, boring, etc. Terrible. One of the worst bands of all time and the worst live performance I've ever been a part of.

David of Revocation talked with me for a while. I got a ReaniManiac shirt and for $5 more when you buy a shirt, I got a CD (Empire Of The Obscene) which he signed for me. Great guys, and he had a funny conversation with Travis Ryan of Cattle while I was waiting in line:

Travis Ryan walks by in a Forbidden "Twisted Into Form" shirt.
David: "Hey Travis! I have that same shirt...except it's not a shitty bootleg version! HAHA!"
Travis: " I got this at the show! This ain't no bootleg! I saw them on this tour...how old are you again? HAHA!"